Week 008 Learning from Others and Reviewing the Literature PPT.pdf

Learning from Others and Reviewing the Literature Learning Objectives: At the end of the topic the students should be able to: Discuss the criteria in selecting, citing, and synthesizing related literature; Discuss the ethical standards in writing related literature; Discuss the formulat...

Learning from Others and Reviewing the Literature Learning Objectives: At the end of the topic the students should be able to: Discuss the criteria in selecting, citing, and synthesizing related literature; Discuss the ethical standards in writing related literature; Discuss the formulation of conceptual framework; and Discuss the definition of terms as used in the study Several reasons are behind your choice of a particular topic to research on. Your curiosity or familiarity about an animate creature or inanimate object its functionally inspire you to discover more about such person or thing. Whatever experience or background knowledge you have about your chosen topic becomes valuable believable only as regards your acts of proving the validity or truthfulness of your claims about your topic, if these ideas of yours are related to what the world or other people already know or have already discovered or done about your chosen topic. Aligning your thinking with other people’s ideas displayed legally and professionally in varied literary works lends credibility to whatever ideas you have about your research study. (Baraceros, 2017)  The Criteria in Selecting, Citing, and Synthesizing Related Literature Systematic review of related literature happens through the following sequential steps: 1. Clarifying the research questions; 2. Planning the research based on your understanding of the research questions; 3. Searching for literature; 4. Listing criteria for considering the values of written works; 5. Evaluating the quality of previous research studies; and 6. Summarizing the various forms of knowledge collected.  Obtaining results of the review of related literature by means of systematic review that takes place in a step-by-step method is a scientific way of conducting a re- examination of reading materials that have close connection with your research. Adopting a systematic review of related literature prevents you from being bias in dealing with the varied form of literature. The adherence of systematic review to scientific method makes it the apt review of related literature method for quantitative research that likewise follows the scientific method of looking into the truthfulness of something (Babbie, 2013; Russel, 2013; Jesson, 2011) All reading materials related to your research that you intend to review or re- examine offer you concepts, ideas, or information belonging to other people. Having honesty, respect, or courtesy to the owners of these varied forms of knowledge as well as gratefulness for their valuable contribution to the field, you see to it that the names of these idea owners or authors appear in the appropriate sections of your research paper (Baraceros, 2017) Other people’s ideas incorporated in the central section or main body of your paper are to be cited or referred to the true owners of borrowed ideas. Referring to authors within the main body of the paper is called Citation or In-text Citation; at the end of the paper, it is called Bibliography or References. The two most commonly used referencing styles are the MLA (Modern Language Association) and the APA (American Psychological Association).  The following shows you how these two referencing styles differ in some aspects. Writing the Author’s name APA System – full name first, then followed by initials of first and middle name MLA System – full surname first, followed by full first name, and optional initial of the middle name Writing the title of the Reading Material APA System – Italicized title with only the beginning word capitalized (exception: capital for every proper noun) MLA System - underlined or italicized title with all content words capitalized Writing the copyright date APA System – written the author’s name MLA System – written after the publisher’s name  The Ethical Standards in Writing Related Literature There are lots of reasons why researchers conduct literature reviews, so here we will focus only on issues relation to research ethics. It is ethical practice to consider how your research can best build upon work that has already been done. Research literature can be used, for example, to develop arguments about what needs to be studied, and why. After exploring existing studies, you might even decide that a research question has already been answered - and so it could be unethical to research the issue again. In a systematic review, the findings of existing studies themselves become raw data for analysis and interpretation. Reports of research studies vary in how much detail they provide, and so study authors sometimes also act as sources of information about the detail of existing research. One reason why ethics is an important consideration in systematic and literature reviews is that it may not always be possible for the reviewer to identify the procedures - for example around consent - that were used to ensure ethical practice in the study being reviewed.  The Formulation of Conceptual Framework Coming up with a conceptual framework requires reading and understanding theories that explain relationships between things. A comprehensive understanding of the research issue, therefore, can be achieved through an exhaustive review of literature. Since research or thesis writing involves the explanation of complex phenomena, there is a need to simplify or reduce the complexity of the phenomena into measurable items called variables. Only a portion of the phenomena can be explained at a time. A conceptual framework is a bit like a recipe or a blueprint. It provides an outline of how you plan to conduct the research for your thesis, but it goes further than that by also positioning your work within the larger field of research. Writing a conceptual framework can not only help to guide your thesis to ensure that your research stays on track, but it also helps to guide fellow researchers or advisers who are analysing your thesis. (http://education.seattlepi.com/make-conceptual-framework-thesis- 7029.html) This consists of concepts that are placed with a logical and sequential design. Represents less formal structure and used for studies in which existing theory is inapplicable or insufficient Based on specific concepts and prepositions Derived from empirical observation and intuition May deduce theories from a conceptual framework  The Definition of Terms Used in the Study General Guidelines in Writing the Definition of Terms This section should have introductory statement. Terms or variables are enlisted and arranged alphabetically written in bold capital letter lower case. Each variable is given a definition written immediately after each term in sentence form and on hanging indentions. Operational definitions are necessary. In order to come up with a definition of terms, the student must identify his interest areas. The student may start by examining his childhood and the way he was brought out to search for significant events that may have had a strong influence on him in the formative years. This may aid him in discovering his bias on a particular subject or it may aid him in determining a core conflict or a central life question. This question or conflict can help the student to determine his bias on that particular subject and give birth to the area in which he wants to specify his definition of terms. A life question or core conflict can easily be turned into a set of questions merely by submitting it to a series of inquiries. The student may continually ask himself why this is important to him. As he asks questions about his core conflict(s) or life question, a mere reformulation of the syntax can turn them into definition of terms